BP oil spill lawsuits: who's being sued

BP has issued a number of lawsuits to ensure all parties involved are "held
accountable for their roles in contributing to the Deepwater Horizon accident"
in which 11 workers died. Here is a list of who the oil company is suing:

The explosion on the Deepwater rig led to the worst offshore oil spill in US history.

It did not give a figure for how much money it was seeking from Halliburton but asked for damages of up to the total cost of the spill, which BP has put at $42bn, plus interest, legal costs and punitive damages.

"Halliburton's improper conduct, errors and omissions, including fraud and concealment, caused and/or contributed to the Deepwater Horizon incident ... Halliburton knew and understood it was misrepresenting material information," BP said in a court filing.

Transcocean

The owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig is being sued for at least $40bn in damages and other costs. BP accuses Transocean of negligence, saying it caused the drilling rig to be "unseaworthy."

"The simple fact is that on April 20, 2010, every single safety system and device and well control procedure on the Deepwater Horizon failed, resulting in the casualty," BP said in its filing.

Transocean called the lawsuit a "desperate bid" by BP to renege on a contract to assume full responsibility for pollution and environmental costs. "This suit is specious and unconscionable," it said in a statement.

Cameron International

BP claims Cameron International was negligence because a blowout preventer made by the company failed to avert the catastrophe. In a complaint filed in the federal court in New Orleans, BP said Cameron should be ordered to pay its share of any liability the British company might face under a 1990 federal law governing oil pollution.

"The blowout preventer failed to work and perform the function it was designed and manufactured to perform - i.e., to secure the well," BP said in the complaint. "The blowout preventer was flawed in design, and alternative designs existed that did not have these flaws."